Black bear sightings in Alabama are on the rise, but is the population growing?

Saraland black bearSaraland resident Janet Holsombeck recorded video of the large black bear that frequently entered her backyard by climbing her 6-foot privacy fence this summer. The bear loved to munch on the seed in the bird feeders.

The big black bear – contentedly chomping on seeds from the bird feeders -- was such a familiar presence in Janet Holsombeck's Saraland backyard that she misses it now that it has moved on.

"For some reason I wasn't really afraid," Holsombeck said. "It was just amazing to see something like that in the city."

Black bear sightings and encounters are becoming more common in Alabama, experts say, fueling speculation that state's small population is growing.

Thus far in 2014, for example, the Alabama Black Bear Alliance – a coalition of bear enthusiasts – has received reports of about 20 sightings, said director Daniel Powell, a number that marks a steady march upward in the past few years.

Having studied bears in the state for three years, Steury said that there may be other – not so good – reasons for the bump in sightings.

Unrelenting human development could be putting new pressure on the bears, he said, causing them to roam far and wide to find food and mates. Black bears typically feed on forest vegetation.

Up to 1,000?

The size of Alabama's black bear population remains a mystery.

Gauldin pegs it at 350-400, while Powell said the number is closer to 1,000.

Steury suspects that those estimates are too high, although he said that the population has received a boost from 26 black bears that drifted into northeast Alabama from Georgia, where many once-quiet counties now lie in the Chattanooga and greater Atlanta metro areas.

The Mobile region remains the state's main home for bears, primarily the Saraland area in Mobile County, just outside the remote Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and the Chatom and Wagarville areas of rural Washington County.

This clustering of bears has led to substantial inbreeding, Steury said. In fact, he said, there's some evidence to indicate that there are fewer bears elsewhere in the state than before, and that the new sightings merely represent bears that are passing through.

According to a count made 15 years ago, he said, only 50 bears remained in the Mobile region.

The Georgia bears that migrated in are American black bears, the most widely distributed black bear species. Experts believe, however, that the majority of the

Whatever the reason, black bears have been reported in nearly every county in the last few years, turning up in some spots where they haven't been seen in a century.

Since 2011, for instance, bears have been spotted in Baldwin and Clarke counties in southwest Alabama; in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham; in Lowndes and Macon counties outside Montgomery; and in Lee County in east Alabama.

This year, sightings have expanded to Butler, Choctaw and Marengo counties, all in the heavily forested and strongly agrarian Black Belt region.

And in northeast Alabama, the bears have been turning up in DeKalb and Etowah counties. In southeast Alabama, they've been seen in Dale, Geneva and Covington counties.

This fall, Auburn University's School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences will be expanding its study of black bears with a $529,000 state conservation grant.

Steury said researchers will continue to collect DNA and behavior information from bear populations to determine their genetic makeup and other factors.

Nearly 400 hair snares have already been set up around the state, providing samples for DNA testing. Landowners who have seen bears and are willing let researchers post hair snares can send an email to bears@auburn.edu.

A small number of bears will be outfitted with radio collars so that researchers can track their movements.

Also, researchers will send mail-outs to random households to survey opinions about bears. This will guide efforts to educate the public about living alongside bears.

Saraland black bear video - Summer 2014Saraland resident Janet Holsombeck captured video of the black bear that began entering her backyard in late June 2014. The bear climbed a 6-foot privacy and would eat seed from the bird feeders. (Contributed by Janet Holsombeck)

Living with bears

Holsombeck, the Saraland homeowner who watched a bear regularly raid her bird feeders, said the experience was jolting at first.

Holsombeck has lived in a subdivision off Celeste Road in Saraland for 28 years, and until this June had never seen a bear there.

One evening, at around dusk, she and her grandchildren heard odd noises at the privacy fence, which stands 6 feet high. Looking closer, they saw a bear perched on top.

"It scared us to death," Holsombeck said. "We came in on our screen porch and sat there real, real quiet."

The bear, she said, was only about a yard away from them.

She said that the bear "blew really hard" as though making a loud sound to show it knew that they were watching.

Her 6-year-old granddaughter, she said, gave it the nickname "Little Bear," and it soon became a regular visitor.

Lately, Holsombeck hasn't seen "Little Bear," and fears the worst. Not far from her home, on July 28, a driver struck and killed a 200-pound female bear on Interstate 65.